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Fire levels cosmetic company's warehouses

A 14-alarm fire in southern Toombs County leveled two warehouses at the Lady Renee cosmetics company Tuesday. A part owner of the business said they would rebuild, but that the loss was massive.

Savannah Morning News

A 14-alarm fire in southern Toombs County leveled two warehouses at the Lady Renee cosmetics company Tuesday. A part owner of the business said they would rebuild, but that the loss was massive.

Savannah Morning News

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Savannah Morning News

A 14-alarm fire in southern Toombs County leveled two warehouses at the Lady Renee cosmetics company Tuesday. A part owner of the business said they planned to rebuild, but the loss was massive.Special to the Savannah Morning News

A cosmetics company in southern Toombs County was nearly destroyed in a fire Tuesday that required the assistance of 14 small fire departments to be completely extinguished.

A part owner of the Lady Renee cosmetics company said two warehouses at their Uvalda plant were leveled when a fire broke out around 7 a.m. Tuesday. One fire truck was still on site at 4 p.m.

Bobby Toole, a company spokesman and part owner, said the business has about 30 employees and is family owned. He said the fire destroyed a large amount of the company's inventory, but spared a warehouse that contained much of its cosmetics products.

"It was a tremendous loss to us," Toole said. "This fire means jobs and it will mean our livelihood."

Toole said the two warehouses contained barber equipment and other non-chemical supplies.

Two employees were in the warehouses when the fire started. One of those employees was treated for smoke inhalation and burns. He was taken to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta for treatment. The second employee was not injured.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but one firefighter said the blaze was already too large for local firefighters shortly after it was reported.

"When I got there at about 10 minutes after 7 a.m., there was billowing smoke and a half-hour later there were visible flames," said Donna Lee, a volunteer firefighter from the Cedar Crossing community.

"The rural location and the layout of the building made it really difficult. We had fire departments from three counties."

Lee said those firefighters shuttled water from a variety of locations, including nearby ponds, and shared oxygen and other supplies. "It was really all about containment," Lee said. "We didn't want it to spread any further than it already had. There was another warehouse that contained a lot of chemicals. This was really not about saving a building that was already so heavily damaged. We didn't want it to get out of control."

Toole said it was too soon to place a monetary value on the loss. He said the Lady Renee company has faced tough competition from foreign cosmetic companies in recent years. Still, he was hopeful the company would survive.

"We worked at this for 41 years and we've always been fighters," Toole said. "I'm pretty sure we'll still be fighting when this is all done."